Cameroon Aims for 98% DNSSEC Validation Across National Internet by 2026
This development places Cameroon among the limited number of African nations whose national domains are fully secured with DNSSEC, reinforcing the country’s move toward greater digital sovereignty.
Cameroon has advanced its digital security efforts with the activation of DNSSEC for the national “.cm” domain. The upgrade, implemented by ANTIC—the agency responsible for managing the country’s internet namespace—marks a major step toward protecting users from fraudulent and malicious websites. With DNSSEC now enabled, websites operating under the “.cm” extension benefit from stronger authentication, making them more trustworthy for citizens, businesses and institutions. This development places Cameroon among the limited number of African nations whose national domains are fully secured with DNSSEC, reinforcing the country’s move toward greater digital sovereignty.
Despite this progress, DNSSEC implementation at the top-level domain is only the beginning. For users to experience full protection, internet service providers must also activate DNSSEC validation. Providers such as CAMTEL, MTN, Orange and Creolink play a critical role in ensuring that the security chain is complete. Current validation levels in Cameroon stand at 56.60%, leaving users exposed to significant cyber risks. Addressing this gap was a key focus of the fifth National Forum on DNS, held in Douala from December 8 to 10, 2025, hosted by ANTIC with technical support from ICANN and AFRINIC.
The forum brought together national stakeholders to identify strategies to strengthen DNS security across the telecommunications ecosystem. ANTIC outlined an ambitious target: achieving 98% DNSSEC validation across all operators and reaching full nationwide deployment of Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) by mid-2026. Meeting these goals would greatly enhance user protection and align Cameroon more closely with international cybersecurity standards.
Improved DNS security is expected to yield broad benefits. Students would be able to access online learning platforms with greater confidence, entrepreneurs could operate digital businesses with reduced risk, and ordinary citizens would navigate the internet with less fear of being redirected to fraudulent sites. ANTIC emphasized that achieving a secure and resilient digital environment will require coordinated efforts across the country’s digital, regulatory and telecommunications sectors.
